Rough Animation Test: the Elephant.

The Elephant

THE CAVE

Synopsis

A school excursion to the cave of Magura and the subsequent discussion between the students and the experts on its rock art, become the occasion to tell a tale where the rock art from the cave comes to life.  The tale is about a little boy who is chosen to be the Shaman of the tribe. He grows up and leaves a legacy to the future generations – the Magura sun calendar.

What would our message to the future generations be?    

Treatment
A group of undergraduate students are on a school excursion to the cave Magura (the biggest cave in Bulgaria, famous for its rock art). When the guide begins her/his explanatory notes, some listen, others chat. One is scribbling something on the backpack of his classmate. A close up of the drawing.
The same students are in a classroom, attending a lecture of archaeologists, anthropologists and speleologists about the drawings in the cave. The students start asking questions while we see alternate shots – their faces, photographs of prehistoric paintings, students’ notebooks. It is through the drawings i the notebooks that we are taken into an animated tale.

The first issue discussed is the choice of a Shaman. With the discussion going on over screen, we see a tribe joyfully throwing up a little boy with a scar on his forehead.  Here comes the elder of the village with his many children and the tribe abandoned their first choice. The tribe hesitates whom to choose - the scarred child, one of the many children of the elder, a boy or a girl – when finally, with thunderbolt and lightning, appears the mythical animal from Magura’s legacy. Everybody hides in, except a little child playing in the mud. Between him and the mythical beast arises a strange connection. Getting to know each other, they look at each other as if in a mirror. The people of the tribe start peering out from the cave and startle the animal, who rushes up the rocks. Under his feet tumble some stones and a shiny pebble fall at the child’s feet. The Shaman is selected.

The students are shown the remarkable places around Magura – the beautiful Belogradchik Rocks, the Rabisha Lake, the caves at Bajlovo... Before departure back to town, they gather at the Magura entrance and find that one of them is missing. Here he comes out of the cave.

The classroom seminar focuses on mythical beings. Through the student-artist’s drawing in his notebook, we are taken into the animated tale. The second episode is dedicated to the mythical beast that lures the newly chosen small Shaman out at sunrise. The child, led by the mythical creature, gets to know plants, animals, wind and rain. When the night falls, the mythical animal "sinks" mysteriously in the lake. A storm arises and the child closes his eyes. He opens them to see the huge, scary figure of the Mother Goddess. Then again he covers his eyes with his hands and when he looks up, he finds himself in the hands of his own mother who drags him into the cave.

 In the classroom the students watch a slide projection of various caves and rock drawings. The student –artist dreamily closes his eyes... The voice over screen questions focus now on the needs of people - both primitive and modern - to tell, listen to and watch stories. The animated boy sees shadows inside the cave and traces their outlines with his glowing pebble. Little by little he starts drawing more confidently - animals, hunting scenes, the Mother Goddess, the Sun, the Moon, etc.

 In the classroom conversation focuses on initiation rituals, on hallucinogenic mushrooms, on the  problems of adolescence. The little Shaman ritually drinks one cup of the Magura "mushroom tincture" and falls into a surreal world. The mythical beast reappears, this time showing his other "scary" faces and turning one after another into a dragon, stony desert, volcano, blizzard, etc. With great efforts the boy overcomes each challenge, climbing step by step the "ladder" (also a well -known symbol from the cave of Magura), which finally leads him into a dark room where the tribe  waits for him. Sitting around him in a circle, the men of the tribe silently bow their heads.

The discussion now focuses on the calendar in Magura. The students listen , ask questions. Some play popular games similar to chess on sheets of paper. The hand of the Shaman draws black and white squares (similar to those at Magura )- symbols of the eternal race between day and night, winter and summer, sun and moon, good and evil...

The new topic is to do with matters of love, sex, matriarchy vs. patriarchy, etc. The new topic gives rise to embarrassment and confused smiles, silly giggles and jokes. Some of the students exchange evasive glances. A close up of a student’s drawing of a heart takes us into the animated tale again. The Shaman, now a young man, is surrounded by dancing girls. He touches them one after another and at his touch they change their appearance, turning into a tree, or an animal just for an instant. It is the girl who takes the image of the Mother Goddess, becomes the Shaman’s bride.

The students now discuss matters of faith, sacrifice, conflicts and war. A close up of the cave drawings, depicting a long procession, takes us into the animated tale. The Shaman riding a horse, leads his men to a battle. He gives a sign with his sceptre and the screen fills with flying spears and arrows. An arrow hits the horse which turns into the mythical beast, roaring with pain and then   accepts the image of the Great Goddess.

The Shaman, now old and tired, bows in worship of the Goddess. He opens his palm and we can see there the shining pebble from the beginning of the tale. People pass by, everybody pressing at his bosom something dear to his heart, then throws it into the chasm. Flowers, fruit, clay figurines fall into the black void.  At the bottom of the deep chasm we can see the image of the Mother Goddess. The magic pebble of the Shaman also flies down into the abyss. It suddenly turns into a bird. So do all the sacrifices and gifts, forming a huge flock of birds that change the course of their flight. Instead of falling down the birds rise up and up, turning gradually into signs and symbols. Various letters on a sheet of paper.

The students ask questions on how and why letters and writing have evolved. The student who likes drawing, folds a paper bird and sends it flying in the air.  We follow the paper bird in an animated collage of famous paintings, labels of products, pages from famous books, sheets of newspapers, signs, abbreviations - DNA, DNA, HTML, SOS, and graffiti. The numerous pieces of the collage swirl to form something like a vortex, which is collected in an empty wine bottle, lying among the garbage on the shores of Lake Rabisha.

The lake overflows, dragging the bottle to the bottom, where it sinks under layers of sand and stones.

What would our letter to the future generations be?

                                                      THE END